Joe Leaphorn

Joe Leaphorn (1947-) was a Navajo tribal police officer.

Biography
Joe Leaphorn was born on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico, and he completed a master's degree in anthropology from Arizona State University. He was educated in white boarding schools, and he had very little connection to his people. To add to this disconnect, he served as a policeman in urban environments such as Phoenix, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque. In 2002, he was assigned to investigate a series of murders on the Navajo reservation, with Jim Chee being chosen as his partner. Leaphorn arrived at perpetrator Bahe Yellowhorse's clinic just after a grieving mother killed him for becoming wealthy off the death of her son, and Yellowhorse's death ended the murders.